How to Apologize
by ScienceofDeduction22
Summary: The knights don't have any memory of what happened to them during Lamia. What happens when they find out how that mysterious girl made them act towards their friends?


**AN: I loved the last episode of Merlin, but I had one little peeve. They never showed the knights and Merlin interacting after they had the enchantment lifted off them. I really thought that they should have had a scene where they talked about the fact that the knights treated Merlin so bad. Please tell me what you think.**

The four knights walked out of the house, stiff jointed and sore, but alive. The compound that Gaius had given them had started to work soon after he administered it. Together they prepared their horses, and at Arthur's signal they prepared to move out. With a little groaning and good natured ribbing they mounted their horses and as a group all the knights, as well as Merlin, Gwen, and Gaius turned and rode out of the village. The people lined the streets, as they had done before, but now the atmosphere was lighter, the danger had passed. The warm sun soon had all the men in good spirits. They rode through the woods and the sunlight filtering through the leaves turned the air a faintly green color. Unsurprisingly Gwaine was the first to break the tranquility. He looked over at the black horse that was trotting steadily at his right, its rider smoothly following the bouncing gait.

"So Merlin," he began his usual grin firmly in place, "Arthur tells us that you were saved by a girl."

The smile slid from the Gwaine's face as Merlin turned and gave him a hard look. In truth it was more of a glare, and the knight had never seen a look like that in his friend's eyes. Merlin's eyes were hard, and they were sad. The emotion was even more present now then it was when Gaius was taken and framed for a crime that he did not commit.

Instead of Merlin's usual sarcastic retort he simply said "So they tell me."

Then, without saying another thing he kicked his horse and increased his pace so that he was no longer riding next to the Knights of the Round Table. Behind him the men exchanged a startled glance. They had all heard this exchange and were baffled. What was wrong with Merlin?

The party continued their journey throughout the day, though their pace was still fairly slow. Gwaine was still troubled by his earlier encounter with Merlin, but he was slowly convincing himself that it was nothing. He had not talked to him for the rest of the day and for all Gwaine knew Merlin was just having a bad morning. '_Yes, that must be it_,' he thought to himself.

When the sun finally began to set behind the trees they settled down to make camp. Merlin was in charge of dinner as usual, but with many more mouths to feed it took him much longer than usual. Leon and Percival, having set up their packs and bed rolls wandered over to the fire were Merlin was crouched, stirring something in his trusty stew pot.

"How long until we eat?" Leon asked "I'm starving."

Merlin did not even look up at the two knights. "It's almost ready." Without saying anything else he got up and walked over to one of the packs and started to get the bowls out of it. The two knights watched him for a moment and where about to turn back to where the others were sitting when, as he was straitening up Merlin winced and almost dropped the dishes that he was carrying. Percival frowned and took a few steps towards Merlin.

"Are you alright?" He asked, concerned, putting a gentle hand on the other man's shoulder. Neither was prepared for the reaction that got. Merlin frowned and sharply shook off the hand.

"Get off me." He said sharply.

Percival backed up slowly his hands in the air, as Merlin brushed past him. Two very puzzled knights watched him walk past.

"Something is wrong with Merlin." Leon announced as he and Percival sat back down with the other knights. Gwaine and Elyan nodded their agreement.

"You saw how he was this morning," Gwaine said.

"That same thing happened just now," Leon agreed, exchanging a look with Percival. "He was very short when we asked him about dinner, and then, he was acting like he was hurt but when Percival put a hand on his shoulder he acted like it had burned him."

All of the knights were at a loss as to what could be making their friend act the way that he was. They were used to his cheerful statements and light personality. They could count on one hand the number of times that they had seen him truly angry, and even then the emotion was almost never directed at his friends like this.

Gwen had been watching the knights all evening. They seemed more subdued than normal, sticking closely together and murmuring. She walked over to them under the premise of checking on her brother, and arrived just in time to hear the last bit of a comment from Elyan.

"…don't even know what he is mad about."

Gwen frowned. "Who is mad?" she asked.

It was Leon who answered, "Merlin, but we are not sure why. We've never seen him like this before."

Gwen's mouth opened slightly in shock. Did they not know? Or did they not think that it was an issue? "Did anyone tell you what happened after we left the village?" she asked.

"Sure," Gwaine said "We found this girl in the woods, thought that she needed rescuing because we were under some sort of enchantment, she led us into a trap, and then you had to save Merlin when she turned out to be a snake-lady."

Shaking her head Gwen sat down next to their group. "That girl did more than just enchant you." She said "You were completely changed," shuddering slightly she went on "I did not recognize any of you. It was still your bodies moving, but the things that you did and said, they were not your own."

Listening with sinking hearts the knights did not say anything for a moment. Finally Percival spoke up. "What did we do? To Merlin?"

As he spoke Elyan was struck with a horrible thought. "Did we hurt him? What about you? Are you alright?"

Gwen was quick to reassure him "I'm fine, but I don't know about Merlin. You all said some horrible things. You said that he was just a servant; that he did not matter, since he was not a knight." She paused for a moment before continuing, ignoring the stunned looks on the men's faces. "It was not always what you said, but how you said it. Whenever you spoke to him it sounded like you were threatening him. He tried to tell you that she was bewitching you, but you would not listen. Leon, I saw you grab him by the neck. When we were about to go into that awful castle he tried again. Percival, you pushed him up against a rock wall. After Elyan was attacked we all split up because you wanted to look for the girl. Gwaine, he tried to talk to you and you almost burnt him with a lit torch."

Her hands were shaking a little as she recounted the stories that led them to that castle of death. The bravery that she had found while lying in that dark corridor was disappearing quickly as she remembered the pure hopeless feelings that had washed over her as she crouched in that room, with her injured brother, not knowing if any of her friends were going to come back at all.

All of the knights were horrified, not wanting to believe Gwen's story. It was at that moment that, as if he had been summoned, Merlin walked up with the pot of stew. He did not say anything as he dished it into the knight's bowls. The men watched him move stiffly around the circle, him mouth set in a firm line.

As he turned to walk away Gwaine called after him. "Merlin, wait." He put down his dinner and stood up. "Gwen has just told us what happened after we were put under the enchantment. I cannot tell you how sorry I am."

The other's voiced their agreement with Gwaine's statement.

Merlin sighed and looked at his friends. It had hurt when they had been acting under the enchantment. Even when he had figured out that the Lamia was the reason for their behavior, it was hard for the knight's harsh words and action seep into his consciousness.

"It was not your fault." He finally said. There was a moment of slightly stilted silence before he added "Besides, now I can remind you that you were all seduced by a massive girl-snake."

It was a sad attempt at humor, but the intent was there. A round of slightly relieved laughter traveled around the group. Merlin walked away again, but his steps were not as heavy. It was not perfect, and it might take the rest of the journey back home, but things were going to be alright again.

**AN: Did I do it justice? I have never written Merlin before and am slightly worried that the characters are a little bit OOC. Please review and let me know.**


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